Malay rights

By Shaik Rizal Sulaiman

The Malays are 'technically' in power governing the country but it is also this same controlling group that demands the right to correct economic imbalances and disparities for its own race.

What does this say about the 'majority governing' Malay race for the last 50 years?

I dare say that most Malaysians (regardless of race) below the age of 40 would like to see all opportunities be spread amongst those who deserve it on meritocracy.

We do not need the keris anymore to tell others to be careful of what they say and do because in the survival of the fittest, the keris is of very little relevance!

If we continue to hide under the 'bumiputera' tempurung as most Malays have been in the last 50 years or more, the catch-up game will just get harder and the gap wider.

If we continue to expect without earning it, we will never learn how to be a race that succeeds on merit. There is NO substitute for merit. The Malay politicians continue to shout about Malay rights and bumiputera rights because the very nature of our local politics is sadly racially biased.

In this day and age, a great nation is built upon joint success stories, meritocracy and the combined hard work of its people WITHOUT any fear or favour of racial biased politics governing our daily policies.

I am below 40 and as much as I love the 'idea' that Malaysia is tanah tumpahnya darah orang Melayu, I can't help but also feel that this country is for ALL Malaysians alike including the Chongs, the Kumars, the Xaviers, the Sings & Kaurs etc who were born on the same day in the same hospital as me here in Malaysia.

If we feel that WE (the Malays) deserve this country more than THEM , then WE (the Malays) should have shown them a long time ago that we deserve the 'control all' status.

We have to earn it. The policies FAILED because the very concept of Malay rights or the NEP/DEB is like a double-edged sword. On one hand, it aims to eradicate wealth disparity but on the other, it has made the Malays oblivious of what reality is. Our (Malays) success is only reflected in the 'perceived' political power which today can collapse in a matter of minutes. I would also like to see my children succeed in their country, Malaysia, for reasons that true success should be based upon, which are merit and hard work and NOT because they are Malays or bumiputeras. For as long as the Malays don't see this, there is very little point in fighting for Malay rights.

It just makes us look more ridiculous. We have taken this notion of being privileged a bit too literally in that it now simply means we want this country and its fruits all for ourselves without accepting the responsibilities that come with it. I blame the MALAY politicians for this because we want to only fight the cause without strategising for the true substance and need of the cause.

We have been given fish all the while without being taught how to fish.

It's funny how two different generations can be so diverse in their thinking and the recent elections proved just that. We are no longer concerned with racial problems but more so the never-ending Malay agenda issues. The rakyat has spoken and the landscape has drastically changed. Is this change welcomed? Is it good?

The answer is 'NO'. Because we,the Malays, have been caught with our pants down - we are not ready to compete on any level playing field (we can't even compete on advantageous grounds!).

Even with three or five more continuing policies for Malay rights or bumiputera privileges over the next 50 years, we will still be in exactly the same position as we are in today.

The truth hurts and the truth will always prevail. And the truth of what's to come will NOT go away. I am cynical perhaps because I feel that Malay rights is NOT relevant anymore.

The right to be safe, to be treated fairly, to have a world-class healthcare and education, to enjoy equal prosperity, to have good governance, to live in a clean environment and to be war-free is what I want for my Malaysia. NOT for MY race to be artificially powerful.

If we want the Malays to fail, then by all means continue the fight for Malay rights. Go and polish your keris.

Shaik Rizal Sulaiman
Posted by Malaysian

Najib: Pathetic attempt to taint my political image

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak dismissed Raja Petra Kamarudin’s statutory declaration linking his wife and two others to the murder of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaaribuu as “total lies, fabrication and total garbage.”

The Deputy Prime Minister said the allegations in the statutory declaration were a “desperate and pathetic attempt to discredit and taint my political image.”

All ears: Najib listening to Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein at the press conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. — Bernama

He said his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor had already given her statement to the police. The Prime Minister too would be making his recorded statement to the police.

“I welcome the police to investigate and I hope investigations will be concluded soon,” he told reporters yesterday after chairing a Cabinet committee meeting on illegal immigrants.

Raja Petra, the editor of online news portal Malaysia Today, who was charged with sedition last month for implying the Deputy Prime Minister was involved in Altantuya’s murder, made the statutory declaration on June 18 claiming to have knowledge that three other persons were present when the body of Altantuya was blown up on Oct 19, 2006.

He also claimed that Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was in the know as the Prime Minister had received a written military report on the murder, which was then handed over to his son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin for “safe-keeping.”

On Tuesday, the Prime Minister came to Najib’s defence. Abdullah said he had not received such a military intelligence report and that it was unacceptable for Raja Petra to make such a claim,

At yesterday’s press conference, when reporters asked Najib about it, he said: “Why are you interested in garbage? Why comment when everything is total lies, fabrication and total garbage.”

Asked about Raja Petra’s motive for making such a claim, Najib said: “I don’t know. You'd better ask him. Why ask me?”

“I’ve no conclusion except that it’s a desperate and pathetic attempt to discredit and taint my political image.”

Asked if he believed it was political motivated, Najib said: “I can’t see any other reason.”

By SHAHANAAZ HABIB

Petronas Charging Extra???

Is it true that Petronas is charging extra RM0.004?

Email is circulating the following:

"The Govt. announced the new petrol price at RM2.70 and all petrol stations set their meters at RM2.700 EXCEPT Petronas, who set their meters at RM2.704.We don't really notice this and Petronas is taking advantage of this!!!I say let's boycott Petronas for good!!"


People are much angry now!

Government BN (Barang Naik) treat the RAKYAT

See how our ruling government BN (Barang Naik) treat the RAKYAT

Today Tenaga stock rose by about MYR1.00. Volume traded in excess of 35 million units.Yesterday Tenaga stock was suspended. Put these points together.

1. If you know that an announcement would be made on Wednesday that TNB rates will be revised upwards you would surely buy Tenaga shares on Tuesday.

2. If you own an investment bank or have sufficient credit line with an Investment Bank you would have bought as much as you could knowing that the price will surely go up.

3. Since you have to pay within 3 days (T+3 rule), you would have planned to sell on Friday. Â So you could have bought 1Million Tenaga shares on Tuesday and sold it today for a cool MYR1Million profit without paying any money (perhaps some borrowing costs for 2-3 days).

4. Of course none of us are privy to the announcement of the fuel hike, but the family of the PM are privy to it.

5. Of course none of us have a large credit line with an Investment Bank but the family of the PM owns an investment bank.

6. Why the surprise announcement on 05 June when the PM has said that it would be in August ? Well you can only make a big and quick profit if you control the timings and surprise others.

7. For those in the know (the powers that be and their cronies) this has been one hugely profitable week buying and shorting the related shares. The poor rakyat had to queue just to fill up their tanks and perhaps save between MYR20-MYR100.


Now read below..... Need those in know of the basic economics of crude, fuel etc to comment.

WHAT IS NEVER MENTIONED IN Mainstream Media like NST/TheStar/Utusan/BH are these facts....

Malaysian PerCapita Income USD 5000 VS Singaporean PerCapita Income USD 25000

Further The Star made a comparison of prices in Thailand , Singapore and Indonesia .

For Thailand it is quoted at RM3.90/liter, however are they aware that in Thailand new cars are cheaper than Malaysia by RM10,000? They pay only one life time for their driving license? No renewal fee after that? Also that goes for road tax as well? And do TheStar also aware that you can drive all the way from Hadtyai to Bangkok on a six lane highway without paying any Tolls ??!!

Whereas here in Malaysia you have to pay yearly renewal for road tax, driving license and TOLLS, TOLLS, TOLLS!!!

For Singapore how can you quote RM 5.20 ? Please quote in Singapore Dollars because they are earning in Sing Dollars. You might as well say Europeans are paying RM10/liter. RM5.20/liter = Sing $2.20/liter, still cheaper than Malaysia in view of fact that Singapore is not a crude oil exporter. Are you saying that you fill up petrol in Singapore by paying Ringgit?

In economy, dollar to dollar must be compared as apple to apple. Not omparing like durian in M'sia is much cheaper than durian in Japan!! Of course-lah, Japan is not durian producer!!! Comparing Malaysian durian with Thailand durian make more sense!!

For Indonesia we might say is cheaper there at RM2.07/liter but compare that to their level of income!

Now, let us compare the price with OIL PRODUCING countries:

UAE RM1.19/litre
Eygpt RM1.03/litre
Bahrain RM0.87/litre
Qatar RM0.68/litre
Kuwait RM0.67/litre
Saudi Arabia RM0.38/litre
IranRM0.35/litre
Nigeria RM0.32/litre
Turkmenistan RM0.25/litre
Venezuela RM0.16/litre
MALAYSIA RM2.70/litre

RM 2.70!!! Individual perspective:

As of last month a Toyota Vios would 'cause a damage' of about RM 89,000. In the international market, a Toyota Vios is about USD 19,000 USD19,000 = RM 62,700 (using the indicative rates of USD 1 = RM 3.30). That makes Malaysian Vios owners pay an extra RM 26,300. This RM 26,300 should be cost of operations, profit and tax because the transportation costs have been factored in to the USD 19,000.

RM 26,300/ RM625 petrol rebate per year translates to a Vios being used for 42.08 years. I do understand that the RM 625 is a rebate given by the government, but it also means that one has to use the Vios for 42.08 years just to make back the amount paid in taxes for the usage of a foreign car. Would anyone use any kind of car for that long?

Now with these numbers in front of us, does the subsidy sound like a subsidy or does it sound like a penalty? This just seems to be a heavy increment in our daily cost of living as we are not only charged with high car taxes but also with a drastic increase in fuel price.

With all the numbers listed out, I urge all Malaysians to join me in analyzing the situation further:

Car taxation is government profit, fuel sales is Petronas' (GLC) profit which also translates into government profit. The government may ridicule us Malaysians by saying look at the world market and fuel price world wide. Please, we are Malaysians, we fought of the British, had a international port in the early centuries (Malacca), home to a racially mixed nation and WE ARE NOT STUPID!!!

We know the international rates are above the USD 130/barrel. We understand the fact that the fuel prices are increasing worldwide and we also know that major scientist are still contradicting on why this phenomenon is happening. Some blame Bush and his plunders around the world and some blame climate change and there are others which say petroleum 'wells' are getting scarce.

Again we go back to numbers to be more straight fwd 1 barrel = 159 liters x RM2.70/liter = RM 429 or USD 134.

On 1 hand, we are paying the full cost of 1 barrel of crude oil with RM2.70 per liter but on the other hand the crude oil only produces 46% of fuel.

Msia sells crude oil per barrel at USD130 buys back Fuel per barrel at USD134. And not forgetting, every barrel of fuel is produced with 2 barrels of crude oil.

1 barrel crude oil = produce 46% fuel (or half of crude oil), therefore 2 barrel crude oil = approximately 1 barrel fuel In other words, each time we sell 2 barrels of crude oil, equivalently we will buy back 1 barrel of fuel.

Financially, Malaysia sell 2 barrel crude oil @ USD 130/barrel = USD 260 = RM 858 then, Malaysia will buy back fuel @ USD 134/barrel = RM 442/barrel. Thus, Malaysia earn net extra USD 126 = RM 416 for each 2 barrel of crude sold/exported vs imported 1 barrel of fuel !!! (USD 260-134 = USD 126 = RM416)

So where this extra USD 126/barrel income is channeled to by Malaysian Govt????????

Another analysis:

1 barrel crude oil = 159 liters. 46-47% of a barrel of crude oil = fuel that we use in our vehicles. 46% of 159 = 73.14 liters. @ RM 2.70/liter x 73.14 liter = RM197.48 of fuel per barrel of crude oil.

This is only 46% of the barrel, mind you. Using RM 3.30 = USD 1, we get that a barrel of crude oil produces USD 59.84 worth of petrol fuel (46% of 1barrel). USD 59.84 of USD 130/barrel turns out to be 46% of a barrel as well.

Another 54% = bitumen, kerosene, and natural gases and so many more. And this makes a balance of USD 70.16 that has not been accounted for.

So this is where I got curious. Where is the subsidy if we are paying 46% of the price of a barrel of crude oil when the production of petrol/barrel of crude oil is still only 46%?

In actual fact, we still pay for this as they are charged in the forms of fuel surcharge by airlines and road taxes for the building of road (because they use the tar/bitumen) and many more excuse charging us but let us just leave all that out of our calculations.

As far as I know, only the politicians who live in Putrajaya and come for their Parliament meetings in Kuala Lumpur (approximately 60+ km) are the ones to gain as they claim their fuel and toll charges from the money of the RAKYAT's TAX.

It is so disappointing to see this happen time and time again to the Malaysian public, where they are deceived by the propaganda held by the politicians and the controls they have over the press.

Which stupid idiot economist equates rebates for rich or poor with the cc of the vehicles? An average office clerk may own a second hand 1300cc proton Iswara costing $7,000 (rebate = $625) while the Datuk's children can own a fleet of 10 new cars of BMW, Audi and Volvo all less than 2000cc costing $2 millions and get a total rebate of $625 x 10 = $6,250! Wow what kind of economists we are keeping in Malaysia...wonder which phD certificate that they bought from...


Misleading concept of Subsidy:

The word "subsidy" has been brandished by the BN government as if it has so generously helped the rakyat and in doing so incurred losses.

This simple example will help to explain the fallacy:

Example:
Ahmad is a fisherman. He sells a fish to you at $10 which is below the market value of $15. Let's assume that he caught the fish from the abundance of the sea at little or no cost. Ahmad claims that since the market value of the fish is $15 and he sold you the fish for $10, he had subsidised you $5 and therefore made a loss of $5.

Question : Did Ahmad actually make a profit of $10 or loss of $5 which he claimed is the subsidy?

Answer: Ahmad makes a profit of $10 which is the difference of the selling price ($10) minus the cost price ($0 since the fish was caught from the abundance of the sea). There is no subsidy as claimed by Ahmad.

The BN government claims that it is a subsidy because the oil is kept and treated as somebody else's property (you know who). By right, the oil belongs to all citizens of the country and the government is a trustee for the citizens. So as in the above simple example, the BN government cannot claim that it has subsidised the citizen!

- Some concerned citizen by email